Mar 17, 2013 11:04 AM

I recently purchased this rock and still after some web surfing and book reading I am yet to find what it is. It reminds me of a desert rose but is deep blue and covered in a salty grit. Any help identifying it would be great, thankyou.

Thankyou for the help I seem to have been duped although I still think it is an interesting mineral and worth the purchase. Luckily it has happened to me pretty early in my collecting 'career' so I owe you many thanks.

When collecting minerals, one obviousy hankers after bigger and better specimens, so it is easy to be swayed by fakes. However, even fakes can have beauty and value (as with copies of paintings, man-made versus natural pearls, etc.). Just try to make sure you pay a price commensurate with the nature of the goods.